North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hans Brinkmann <hans-brinkmann@t-online.de>]

Hallo Chris and Hallo Donna,
yes, I have the same experience, Lycium barbarum Goji Berry do not have 
cultivars jet - at EU.
It is sold as a simple plant - not too nice - but to grow every where- 
!!! Proposed for slopes.
It grows sometimes wild in German wine areas.
It likes dry sandy soils, but it is growing well in cold zone 5a. In 
Germany it is growing in my area -
cold zone 6 - in a very heavy clay soil. A little bit like weed, but not 
high.
And to tell the truth, I did not know the background of the plant at 
all... I started to minimize them.
It seems, the Goji knowledge is more developed in the USA.
They are propagated in Germany only(!) by winter cuttings. They grow 100%!
I have 750 mm annually rainfall, but they grow without any problem.

Thank you Donna for your very interesting information!
ciao
Hans

Donna &/or Kieran schrieb:
> >From what I have read and what I have bought at the oriental grocery store, 
> there isn't much variation in lycium berries (wolfberry, chinese boxthorn, 
> etc) and it would be silly to spend a lot of time or money looking for 
> cultivars.  The European version I makes somewhat smaller berries, otherwise 
> they are considered very similar.  I read an article on germanium that 
> claimed that the herbal hall of fame mostly consisted of plants that 
> concentrated germanium.  If that's the case, the germanium is in the seeds 
> and THAT means that you don't need to bother looking for varieties that make 
> more pulp.  The ordinary cheap dried ones from oriental groceries taste 
> great the way they are, and the seeds sprout just fine.  My problem is that 
> I can't get them to GROW once they are up.  They always die before they get 
> an inch high.  It frustrates me no end to read that they are naturalized in 
> places in Virginia.  I think they like sandy soil, but even in sand they die 
> for me.  What they don't seem to like, at least while small is excessive 
> amounts of rain.  They will do fine till we get into a wet spell, and then 
> they die every time.  Forest Farm out west sells the plants, and the one I 
> got from them lived for 2 years, till I transplanted it out of the woods to 
> some better soil, then it died.    Donna 
>
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